Mattress-conveyer



1. A. AND H. PETERSON.

MATTRESS CONVEYER.

APPLxcATxoN man APR, z5, '1919.

Patented June 14, 1921.

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ATTORNEY.

l. A. AND H. PETEHSN.

MATTRESS CONVEYEH.

APPLICATION msn APR. 15, i919.

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and H6727 BY J. A. AND H. PETERSON.

MATTRESS CONVEYER.

' APPLICATION FILED APRI, I9I9.

11,331,429. I Patented June 14,1921.

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ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN A. PETERSON AND HENRY PETERSON, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

MATTRESS-CONVEYER.

To all whom it may concer/n.:

Be it known that we, JOHN A. PETERso-N and HENRY PETERSON, citizens of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mattress-Conveyers, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to mattress conveyers, and our object in general is to provide a machine of this character for speeding up the work in mattress factories by relieving the seamsters of all work other than tufting and sewing the margins of the mattresses as they are carried along by the conveyer.

The invention embodies a long table upon the receiving end of which the unfinished mattresses are placed one by one and carried along by the conveyer at slow speed to the delivery end of said table where the inished mattresses are discharged. A number of seamsters are stationed at intervals along each side of the table and each seamster is required to perform a certain amount of work upon each mattress as it passes over a given length ofthe table.

The work of placing the unfinished work upon the-table and removal of the iinished mattresses may be performed by unskilled labor, thus leaving the skilled seamsters free to concentratetheir energies upon the sewing and tufting operations.

Inorder that the invention may be fully understood, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a broken plan view of a porn tion of the machine.

Fig. 2 is a continuation of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section on line III of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section on line IV-IV of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a broken plan view of a modified form of the machine.

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section on line VI-VI of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a broken elevation of a modified form of conveyer for moving the mattresses.

In carrying out the invention, we employ a table consisting of a series of longitudinal bars 2, transverse supporting members 3 upon which the bars 2 are fixed, and legs 5 upon which said supporting members 3 rest. The bars 2 are spaced laterally apart, the Spaces .7 being, preferably, wider than the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 14, 1921.

Application filed April 15, 1919. Serial No. 290,149.

b ars in order to leave ample room for the passage of the needles used in tufting the mattresses. The transverse supporting members 3 divide the table into sections where the seamsters are stationed, preferably, one to each section. Said sections comprise a receiving section 9, a suitable number of intermediate sections 12, and a delivery section 14.

The mattresses A arepconducted along the top of the table from the receiving section 9 to the delivery section 14 by suitable means such as a conveyer, comprising, preferably, a pair of endless sprocket chains 16 provided at intervals with flights 18 spaced apart upon the chains 16 distances equal to the spaces between the supporting members 3. .The upper portions of the chains 16 are arranged in two of the central spaces 7 of the table, while the lower portions of said chains are disposed close to the bottom of the legs 5, so that said chains will not be in the way of the seamsters or their needles while tufting the mattresses. The chains 16 run around idlers 2O and driving sprockets 22, which latter are iXedly-mounted upon a shaft 24 journaled in bearings 26 and provided near one end with a large fiXedly-mounted sprocket wheel 28. sprocket wheel 28 is driven by a sprocket chain 30, driven by a small sprocket wheel 32 fixed upon a shaft 34. provided with a large iiXedly-mounted sprocket wheel 36 driven by a sprocket chain 38 running around a small sprocket wheel 40,fiXed upon the shaft 42 of a suitable motor 44. By arranging the sprocket gearing as shown and described the chains 16l are driven at slow speed, so that the seamsters will have sufiicient time to do their respective portions of the work upon the mattresses as the same pass over the successive sections of the table.

The upper flights 18 slide upon 'the intermediate bars 2 of the table, while the lower flights slide upon rails 50 supported near the lower ends of the legs 5 upon cross beams 52.

An opening 54 is left in the top of the table between the delivery section 14 andthe adjacent section 12 for the passage of flights 18 as they pass downward to the rails 50.

In practice the seamsters station themselves at their respective sections of the table. The mattresses are then placed one by one upon the receiving end of the table Said and as each is moved forward by a flight 18 the work of sewing the margins and tufting is performed by said seamsters, so that the mattresses pass in a finished state upon the delivery section 14 of the table. By relieving the seamsters of all work other than that of sewing and tufting the mattresses and requiring them to begin and complete their respective operations on the mattresses as the same are carried along by the conveyer, it is obvious that considerable more work can be accomplished each day than heretofore and a corresponding saving in cost of production is accordingly effected.

The modified form disclosed by Figs. 5 and 6 is somewhat similar to the preferred form, excepting that endless belts 16a ,are substituted for the chains 16, and transverse slats 18a are substituted for the ights 18. The endless belts 16 travel around rollers 2O*L which may be driven by suitable means such as that disclosed on Fig. 3 of the drawings. The slats 18a are placed closed enough together to carry the mattresses and travel on the longitudinal bars 2a of the table.

In theemodified form disclosed by Fig. 7,

a screw 16" is substituted for the chains 16 ing between said delivery end and the adjacent portion of the table and of less width than said table, endless cables parallelinfr the top of the table and descending at sai transverse opening, means for operating said cables, and means carried by said cables adapted to move the mattresses from the receiving end to the delivery end of the table and descend through the transverse opening. 2. In a machine of the character described, a horizontal table having mattress receiving and delivery ends and a transverse opening between said delivery end and the adjacent portion ofthe table, endless cables paralleling the top of the table and descending at said transverse opening, means for operating said cables, and flights carried by said cables and shorter than the width of the table to pass through the transverse opening, said flights being spaced apart so that each may engage a mattress and move it from the receiving end to the delivery end of the table. Y Y Y 3. In a machine of the character'described, a horizontal table having mattress receiving and delivery ends and a transverse opening between said delivery end and the adjacent portion of the table, and of less width than said table, endless cables paralleling the top of the table and descending at said transverse opening, means for operating said cables, flights carried by said cables and adapted to pass through the transverse opening, said flights being spaced apart so that each may engage a mattress and move it from the receiving end to the delivery end of the table, and rails adjacent the bottom of the table to support the flights in their passage back to the receiving end of the table.

4l. In a mattress conveyer, a horizontal table the upperportion of which consists of a plurality of longitudinal bars spaced apart laterally for the passage of needles used in sewing'and tufting mattresses, a pair of endless cables having their upper longitudinal portions disposed in the central spaces between said bars and their lower longitudinal portions disposed close to the bottom of the table to be out of the way of the needles, and

flights spaced apart to receive the mattresses 

